Last Gun Alchemist

”Shit, he’s not joking.”

Cyrus immediately moved into a proper stance, his feet shifting apart as he lowered his center of gravity and brought his hands forward.

The other test takers reacted almost at the same time.

The glass spears shot through the air like light missiles, their sharp bodies cutting through the space between Professor Kent and the students with enough speed that the sound of their movement reached them only a moment before the weapons arrived.

There was barely any time to think.

The glass spears crossed the distance between them.

Then, just before reaching the students, several of them suddenly appeared directly in front of their targets.

”Isn’t this supposed to be a Binder Alchemy attack?”

Grace gritted her teeth.

Cognis immediately rushed through her left arm, moving from her body toward her hand.

White lightning sparked across her fingers.

She raised her hand directly against the incoming glass spear.

Clang!

The spear struck her Cognis.

The impact pushed against her arm, but Grace held her ground.

Around her, numerous flashes of Cognis appeared as the other students also reacted to the attack.

Some caught the glass spears with their hands.

Others used their Cognis to intercept the weapons before they could reach their bodies.

The sound of glass striking Cognis filled the training ground.

Clang!

Crack!

Bang!

A few students were immediately pushed backward.

Their shoes dragged against the training ground as they struggled to maintain their footing, leaving marks in the soil while the force of the glass spears pushed against their bodies.

They gritted their teeth and focused their Cognis on the weapons.

They were trying to de-formularize the Glass Alchemy.

The problem was that the attack wasn’t as simple as it appeared.

Professor Kent remained where he was, both hands still inside his pockets.

”You know why I like the Combat Path of Alchemy more than the other General Paths of Alchemy?”

His voice remained calm despite the chaos taking place in front of him.

His eyes moved across the students as they struggled against his attack.

”It’s because of the number of formulas and philosophical concepts that goes into making the Alchemy become one.”

A small smirk appeared on his face.

”If you think that a simple Binder Glass Spear only contains a small number of formulas for you to try and de-formularize, then go ahea...”

He didn’t finish.

Spppark!

A sharp flash of light appeared among the students.

Then another.

Several students looked toward the source of the sound.

”Wow...”

The voices of the students watching the test immediately lowered.

Their eyes moved toward the glittering particles falling through the air.

The remains of a glass spear were slowly drifting toward the ground like tiny pieces of snow.

Vera stood calmly where the attack had reached her.

Small glass flakes rested across her hand.

She brushed them away with her fingers, allowing the pieces to fall to the ground.

Her dull black eyes remained on Professor Kent.

”You did add a lot of formulas to make the Binder-rank attack harder to de-formularize.”

She said plainly.

”But that is still too easy.”

Vera slowly lowered her hand.

Professor Kent’s smile widened.

”She altered the solid nature of my Glass Spear and aligned it with the physical properties of a normal snowflake.”

He said, clearly pleased with the result.

The students around Vera looked toward the pieces of glass scattered across the ground.

It was difficult to believe that the spear that had been flying toward her moments earlier had been reduced to something that could fall apart like snow.

But Vera hadn’t struggled.

She had simply changed its physical nature.

Almost immediately after her success, two other test takers completed their own alterations.

”Lady Willow and Sir Ravenor!”

A few students watching shouted in excitement.

Willow and Ravenor had both altered their Glass Spears.

The two weapons no longer behaved like glass.

Their physical properties had been changed to align with those of rubber.

The glass spears lost their original hardness and shape as the students successfully applied their understanding of the Law of Inversion.

”Nice!”

Several students reacted.

Diane finished almost at the same time.

She had performed an alteration similar to Vera’s, changing the physical properties of her Glass Spear.

However, there was an interesting difference.

Diane hadn’t finished quickly because she was struggling with the Law.

Instead, she had spent more time thinking about what kind of alteration she should perform.

She had considered her options before finally deciding on one.

Once she made her decision, the process became much smoother.

More and more test takers began completing their tests.

Some demonstrated a high level of understanding of the Law of Inversion.

One student changed the physical shade of the Glass Spear.

Another changed its physical properties so that it aligned with those of another material.

Someone else who wasn’t at the stage were changing the properties was possible. So, instead... They destroyed the entire Glass Alchemy formula.

The methods were different.

The results were also different.

But they all demonstrated the same thing.

They understood the Law of Inversion well enough to apply it to Professor Kent’s attack.

Of course, none of this came without a cost.

Many of the students drained a large amount of Cognis during the process.

Some were breathing heavily after finishing.

Others were sweating as they stood in place, trying to recover their breathing while watching the remaining test takers.

Even so, they had succeeded.

They had shown Professor Kent their understanding.

And they had also shown their classmates what students of their age were already capable of doing.

”This is truly impressive.”

Karla said with a pleased smile.

She watched as another Glass Spear disappeared.

Even Professor Kent couldn’t help smiling.

The results had clearly pleased him.

Veda also succeeded.

He destroyed the Glass Spear without struggling too much, his Cognis breaking apart the Alchemy formula before the weapon could cause him any serious trouble.

Felix succeeded as well.

So did Gareth.

One after another, the test takers completed the challenge.

Cyrus was among the last few.

He stared at the remains of the Glass Spear before finally letting out a long breath.

”Finally done.”

His shoulders dropped.

The tension that had been holding his body stiffly finally disappeared.

He had genuinely thought he might die while struggling to de-formularize the Glass Alchemy.

The complexity Professor Kent had added to the formula had made the process much harder than Cyrus had expected.

But he had still managed to destroy the Glass Spear.

Cyrus looked down at his hand.

A small amount of blood dripped from the center of his palm.

The Glass Spear had managed to injure him before he finished.

He wasn’t the only one.

Several other test takers had also been injured by the Glass Spears.

Some had small cuts.

Others had deeper wounds.

But they had still completed the test.

Only three students failed to complete it.

”Argh!!!”

”Damn it!”

”Fuck!”

The three voices came from the students who had been struck badly.

They fell onto the ground, clutching their injured hands while groaning in pain.

The Glass Spears had pierced through their palms before they could properly de-formularize them.

Immediately, Academy medical staff emerged from the hidden areas around the training ground.

They had apparently been waiting nearby from the beginning.

The medics rushed toward the injured students and immediately began treating their wounds.

One knelt beside a student whose palm had been pierced and carefully examined the injury.

Another opened a medical kit and began preparing the treatment.

Willow watched them for a moment before looking toward Professor Kent.

”So, he had the medical staff waiting patiently in case.”

She muttered.

Her opinion of the professor seemed to change slightly.

Perhaps he wasn’t as careless as he looked.

Perhaps he was actually kind-hearted.

Many of the students who had been watching the test seemed to have similar thoughts.

Professor Kent, however, clicked his tongue.

”Tsk, weaklings...”

He said plainly while watching the medical staff take care of the seriously injured students first, followed by those with lighter wounds.

Yeah...

He is still heartless.

The students immediately changed their minds back again.

His words sounded harsh, but he didn’t stop the medics from doing their work.

Eventually, the first part of the test came to an end.

Most of the students had succeeded.

Some had suffered injuries.

Three had failed.

But there was still one test remaining.

Professor Kent turned toward the two students who had been waiting separately from the others.

”Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Logan Drakes, please take the stage.”

He said calmly.

Then he returned to his foldable chair and sat down.

He removed his black shades and rested them in one hand.

”I leave it all to you, Mr. Logan Drakes.”

He said plainly.

Logan nodded.

”I will do my very best, Professor.”

A smug smile appeared on his face.

He had been waiting for this particular moment.

He had wanted to face Maxwell ever since the announcement that the commoner had claimed he would rank above all of them.

He didn’t really care about Maxwell actually mastering the Law of Inversion, but this will be a step to know if Maxwell was actually worth recognizing as a threat.

Tristin and Basil were also watching with clear interest.

Felix, Gareth, and Desmond were paying attention as well.

However, their curiosity wasn’t entirely about the upcoming test.

They were also wondering about something else.

Why would a commoner like Maxwell have a master like Andraver?

They had managed to find out that Andraver, Maxwell’s master, was regarded as one of Britannia’s greatest Alchemists.

Having someone like him as a master wasn’t something ordinary.

Even if Maxwell was a commoner, being taught personally by an Alchemist of that level meant there had to be something about him worth noticing.

Logan stepped forward.

He looked at Maxwell with a mocking smile.

”You can give up now, commoner.”

His voice carried enough confidence for the surrounding students to hear.

”Yeah, give up, loser.”

Other students who disliked Maxwell joined in.

Their voices echoed across the training ground as they mocked him.

Maxwell looked at them with confusion.

”Why would I give up when I know how to use the Law?”

He asked.

He genuinely didn’t understand why they were telling him to surrender when the entire purpose of the test was to prove whether he had mastered the Law of Inversion.

Logan pointed toward the students who had failed.

”Idiot...”

His smile became wider.

”You don’t want to end up like those losers over there.”

Maxwell followed the direction of his finger.

The injured students were still being treated by the medical staff.

Some were sitting while their wounds were being wrapped.

Others remained on the ground while the medics worked.

Logan looked back at Maxwell.

”You talk like you can even use the Law.”

Maxwell suddenly laughed.

He shook his head, unable to believe how confident Logan was despite what had just happened.

”You’re seriously talking like you can even use the Law.”

He said again.

Logan’s expression immediately changed.

”What?”

He frowned immediately.

Some of the students watching widened their eyes slightly.

Maxwell wasn’t wrong.

They all knew it.

Even if Logan is the one to be the one to send the alchemy attack for Maxwell to perform the Law of Inversion on.

Logan is still part of the students who had yet to even master the Law of Inversion.

So, making fun of the others who failed the test wasn’t something few of the students liked.

Especially not from someone who is regarded as a talented young alchemist, yet he couldn’t master the Law of Inversion.

Still, none of them wanted to say that out loud.

They simply watched.

Maxwell’s expression became more serious.

”They are even better than you.”

He pointed toward the students who had failed the test.

”At least they already know how to use the Law, even if it’s not perfect yet.”

His eyes moved toward the injured students.

”But because of the additional complexity Professor Kent added to the Alchemy, they couldn’t complete their de-formularizing quickly enough.”

The surrounding students became quiet.

Maxwell continued looking at Logan.

”You’re acting like you’re already better than them, but you haven’t even shown that you can do what they just did.”

Logan’s face tightened.

”You fucking commoner.”

The veins at the side of his head bulged as his anger rose.

His fists tightened.

His expression became furious.

But then his eyes shifted.

He noticed Fatima staring directly at him.

Her gaze was sharp.

The look alone seemed to remind him that losing his temper here would only make him look foolish.

Logan took a slow breath.

His fists loosened.

The anger on his face gradually disappeared.

”Ahh...”

He exhaled.

”You know what? Let’s just get this over with.”

His voice had become calm again.

Maxwell looked at him with the same serious expression.

”I was about to say the same.”

The two stood opposite each other.

The growing noise from the rest of the class slowly disappeared as the students turned their full attention toward them.

Professor Kent leaned back in his chair.

His eyes rested on Maxwell and Logan.

The test was no longer about the other students.

Now, everyone wanted to see one thing.

Whether Maxwell truly possessed the understanding he claimed to have.

And whether Logan Drakes could prove that his confidence was justified.